Team Notes: Golden Knights Travel West to Battle Air Force and Lake Superior in Mile-High City

Coming off two impressive ECAC Hockey victories, including a big win over its archrival this past Saturday, the Clarkson University Hockey team takes a break from league play when it travels to the Mile-High City to participate in the Denver Cup this weekend.

Guided by eighth-year head coach George Roll, associate coach Greg Drechsel and assistant coach Chris Rogles, the Golden Knights will battle Air Force in the first round, at 6:37 p.m. EST, and then take on Lake Superior State on Saturday, at 6:07 p.m. EST, in the classic format tournament. Host Denver University will play Lake Superior and Air Force in the late games on Friday and Saturday.

The Knights closed out a 10-game stretch in Northern New York, including nine games in Potsdam, with a3-1 victory over Route 11 neighbor St. Lawrence University before an overflowing crowd of 3,721 fans atCheel Arena on Saturday. The Green and Gold, who entered the Thanksgiving Holiday break tied for fifth in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 2-2-1 league mark, also defeated Harvard 3-1 in Potsdam on November 13.

Freshman Matt Zarbo (Grand Island, NY), who tallied the winning goal in overtime in Clarkson’s 2-1 non-conference triumph over St. Lawrence in Lake Placid on October 30, came up big again on Saturday with two goals in the league victory over the Saints. Zarbo was named MLX Skates-ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week for the second time this season because of his efforts against St. Lawrence. Senior Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT) connected for the game-winning goal with his 75th career point (22-53) and junior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) was solid again in the Clarkson crease making 24 saves on 25 shots.

Clarkson has much more balance in its lineup this season with 30 players on the roster, and it has shown up early on the stat sheet with 17 Knights scoring at least one goal and 22 players recording at least one point through the first 12 games. DeFazio, who has a five-game point streak, leads the Knights in scoring with 10 points on three goals and a team-high seven assists. Through eight games, Zarbo has netted a team-high five goals and is second on Clarkson in points with nine.

Karpowich has seen the bulk of the work load in the Clarkson crease and posts a .921 save percentage, a 2.69 goals against average and a 6-4-2 record, including one shutout.

Air Force, which has risen to be a power in Atlantic Hockey over the past several years, has overcome a slow start to the 2010-11 campaign and enters the Denver Cup playing its best hockey of the season. Guided by head coach Frank Serratore, the Falcons own a 4-6-1 overall record and a 3-3-1 conference mark. Air Force is unbeaten in its last three games (2-0-1) after tying Canisius (1-1) and defeating Niagara (7-4) in Western NY this past weekend. The Falcons started their unbeaten streak with an impressive come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Top-5 ranked Yale in Colorado Springs on November 14.

Guided by former Clarkson assistant coach Jim Roque, Lake Superior owns a 5-7-2 overall record after being swept by eighth-ranked Michigan (7-2, 3-2) in Ann Arbor last weekend. The Lakers own a 3-6-1 CCHA slate. Prior to the Michigan series, Lake Superior had won three in a row, including a pair of shutouts (1-0, 4-0) over 20th-ranked Ferris State in Sault Ste. Marie, MI on November 12-13.

The Series:
Clarkson will be facing Air Force for only the second time in its history. The Knights defeated the Falcons 17-0 in the opening round of the Syracuse Invitational Tournament on December 29, 1982 in the first meeting.

Lake Superior leads the rivalry against Clarkson 6-5, which began with a 4-2 Lakers’ win in Potsdam on November 28, 1969, 5-3. The Knights had a three-game winning streak snapped in the series when Lake Superior defeated the Green and Gold 5-1 in Sault Ste. Marie on October 27, 2007 in the team’s last meeting. Clarkson posted its first shut out in the rivalry, 4-0 on October 26, 2007 in Michigan, for its last win over the Lakers. In their last tournament meeting, the Knights defeated Lake Superior 3-2 in the championship game of the Badger Showdown in Madison, WI on December 30, 2006 for their first regular-season tournament championship in 11 years.

Clarkson’s first two wins in the rivalry are two of the biggest victories in the program’s 89-year history. In the quarterfinal round of the 1991 NCAA Tournament, Clarkson traveled to face off against the number-1 ranked Lakers in Sault Ste. Marie and shocked the Lakers, winning the best-of-three game series 2-1. The Knights took the first game 7-3 on March 22 and, after falling 6-2 the following night, Clarkson earned the right to advance to the Frozen Four with a thrilling 4-3 triumph on March 24. In their next meeting four years later, also an NCAA playoff game, Lake Superior edged the Green and Gold 5-4 in the first round of the 1995 East Regional held in Worcester, MA.

Lauri Tuohimaa, one of six current Knights to play against the Lakers, has one goal in the series. The only other current Clarkson player to record a point against Lake Superior is Scott Freeman with one assist. George Roll is 3-2 against the Lakers.

Knight Notes:
Clarkson plays its next five games on the road before returning home to host the current number-one ranked team in the country, Minnesota-Duluth in a two-game series on January 3-4 … The Knights battle Air Force and Lake Superior State at the Denver Cup this weekend … Since the 2000-01 campaign, Clarkson has posted a 8-13-3 record in regular-season tournaments. The last time Clarkson won an in-season tournament was on December 29-30, 2006 when the Knights defeated Wisconsin (6-2) and Lake Superior (3-2) to claim the Badger Showdown in Madison, WI … The Golden Knights closed out a 10-game stretch in the North Country with two consecutive 3-1 victories, including their second win of the season over archrival St. Lawrence this past Saturday … The 12th largest crowd ever at 20-year-old Cheel Arena of 3,721 saw the Knights defeat the Saints for the 113th time in their all-time series. Nine of the top 10 all-time crowds at Cheel Arena have featured games against St. Lawrence. A crowd of 5,500 also saw Clarkson defeat St. Lawrence 2-1 in overtime at Lake Placid on October 30 … Matt Zarbo, who tallied the game-winner in the first win this season over the Saints, also came up big in Saturday’s victory scoring two goals and has a team-high five goals on the season. He has twice been named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week, both times after Clarkson defeated St. Lawrence … Scott Freeman tallied the game-winner with his 75th career point (22-53) … Brandon DeFazio extended his point-scoring streak to five games with an assist in the win. He leads a balanced Clarkson offense with 10 points, including a team-high seven assists … Clarkson is 6-0-2 when it scores first and 6-0-1 when leading after two periods … The Knights’ penalty-killing unit is tied for fourth in the nation at 89.9% (62-69) … Jake Morley has three assists in the last two games and is third on the team in scoring with seven points (3-4) … Freshman Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) has recorded multiple-point outings in the last two games Harvard (1-1) and St. Lawrence (0-2) after posting just one goal in his first nine games … Clarkson’s freshman class in accounting for 39% of the Knights’ offense with 13 goals and 21 assists through 12 games.